An occasional report from Squaresville, the home of Wayno's cartoons, fine art, illustration and writing

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A Mouse in Every Bowl

Today's Bizarro cartoon reminds us that it's still campaign season, and pandering to the crowds is the order of the day.

The humor here is fairly gentle, but I think it's a good gag. I was trying to pull it off with no text whatsoever, but the banner seemed to be required to make it clear that this was a campaign stop.

Here's my submission sketch:

The kitten's expression and body language in Dan's panel improved on the sketch quite a bit. He's captured a look of resigned reluctance that's absolutely terrific, whereas the sketch is rather cutesy, particularly those PJs.

Also, the position and posture of the other characters make more sense in the final art. It's clearer that the mother cat is holding the kitten, and the politician is leaning in for the photo opportunity.

The outlandishly long tongue on the campaigner was initially a bit of a surprise. Bizarro often features weird or absurd elements as part of the gag, with the humor arising from a character's blase reaction (or non-reaction) to something that's weirdly impossible, but I thought it looked silly. Perhaps Dan determined that the long tongue was necessary to avoid placing the politician's head close enough to actually lick the kitten, which might have made it look as if he were trying to topple both mother and child.

Although the final drawing of the politician is perhaps a little goofy, the sketch version now appears to be a bit too realistic, almost evil looking. Overall, the finished version is still a winner, and avoids descending into cuteness.

• • •

Speaking of the extremely talented and funny Dan Piraro, he'll be doing several live performances later this week in celebration of Bizarro's 10,000th Anniversary (Since the feature began 25 years ago, he's produced over 10,000 daily cartoons!). There will be two shows in San Francisco on Thursday, April 26, which will also feature comedian and Bizarro contributor Michael Capozzola. These will be followed by appearances on Friday in Mill Valley, and a Saturday show at the Stumptown Comics Festival in Portland.